Energy Outlook Q2 2012

“Security of everything…”

BY SEAN EVERS, MANAGING PARTNER, GULF INTELLIGENCE

The word security appears to have arrived with the 21st century as the foremost word in our collective vocabulary, and certainly the most dominant posture on the global stage for the last decade.

In essence it came in the aftermath of the tragic events of 9/11 and then filtered down through to every activity of daily life, from putting your shoes through an X-ray machine in airports, to a fingerprint device on your desk for accessing your computer.The next ten years will see security enter even deeper into the common vernacular for the survival of life – Food Security, Water Security and Energy Security. They are destined to be parked firmly as dinner party subjects for the chattering classes -- out goes debates on 2-bedroom apartment prices in Shanghai or Palm Island and in will come arable land in remote Kenya, water storage capacity in the UAE or drilling at the North Pole.The challenge for mankind is to take the appropriate action early enough to avoid a 7-Billion person stampede as some nations have already commenced the race to secure the energy, food and water that all citizens need – but Sir Bob Geldof argues in this publication that a “mine, mine, mine” posture will inevitably lead to resource wars this century.Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Fuad Siniora argues in his article following that these significant challenges underpin the fuse that triggered the explosive Arab Spring, and along with the U.A.E. Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al- Nahayan, they both advocate that a window of time still remains but leaders must take decisive and collaborative action now!